Security Resilience

CVE-2023-21768

Microsoft Windows 11 21h2 … 22h2

High EPSS
Published
10 January 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.65 99.3th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-21768 is a high-severity Untrusted Pointer Dereference (CWE-822) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 11. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 0.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2023-21768 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 and is associated with CWE-822. The flaw permits a local attacker to obtain elevated privileges on affected Windows systems.

An attacker with existing local access and low privileges can exploit the issue without user interaction, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the target host.

Microsoft publishes mitigation guidance for this vulnerability through its Security Response Center update guide at the referenced URL. The current EPSS score stands at 0.7442 after reaching a peak of 0.7683.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CWE(s)
CWE-822NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016.001 Internet Connection Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may check for Internet connectivity on compromised systems.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-37979Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2026-78444Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2025-60713Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2026-80083Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2025-29812Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2025-24084Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2026-50479Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2024-43529Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2024-43631Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2024-21338Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 11
21h2, 22h2
microsoft
windows server 2022
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

DE.CM-09 partial match
blocks

Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect adverse events resulting from exploitation of the weakness.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes can discover instances of this weakness via code review or scanning.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of untrusted pointer handling during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References